Retirement

"Yes, I will’” you hear a female voice blurt without hesitation.

It is not until you see Doe’s face light up with joy that you realize that the female voice had been your own.

What? you think to yourself in bewilderment What the hell did I just say? The strangest part was that if someone had asked you twenty minutes ago if you were unhappy enough to walk away from it all and leave everything behind you; you would have laughed and called them a fool; but now that you had actually said it out loud you could feel the truth behind the statement.

You WERE unhappy here, you could see it all so clearly now; although the King had never said anything to you about your pregnancy or about the escaped prisoner, you could see in his eyes that he knew or at least strongly suspected what had happened between you and (lastname} and you could tell you had been lessened in his eyes for letting yourself get fucked and impregnated by a mere pirate and then, even more so by letting that pirate escape you afterwards.

The petty and backbiting nobles of the court had never dared to openly say anything within your hearing, but you had seen them staring and whispering together since your state had become obvious. The subtle effects of your unexpected pregnancy had been felt even amongst the Space Fleet, and although the crew of your flagship had been strongly loyal to you, many of the Fleet’s Captain’s seemed to be looking at you differently now, less like the view of a Captain to an Admiral and more like that of a man looking at a woman.

“Good” Doe’s voice broke into your drifting thoughts “Meet me at...” she looked off camera for a moment before looking back at you “...Spatial co-ordinates 321.091.049, the Alboth’fean system, within the next five days” her pale green eye glitters brightly as she stares at you through the screen “I will be waiting for you” she adds before the screen goes blank.

You slowly sit down on the edge of your wide bed; you are still a little surprised at what you have done but you are also full of a growing certainty that what you have done is the right thing for you. You gently rub your swollen stomach as you think about the future, I guess the first thing I do is tell the king that I retire then I will need to collect my share of the treasure from the Durandal’s hold and then I will be on my way

Smiling widely, you climb to you feet, approach the comm. panel that was embedded in your desk and send a message to the Palace on the planet below, informing them of your desire to speak with the King at his earliest convenience. That done, you send a message to your cabin boy Paul, telling him to begin moving your share of the enemies captured treasure and gold from its current location in the secure vault in the ships hold to your personal shuttle craft in the portside launch bay. One more time, your fingers dart across the keys and buttons of the comm. panel and this time you contact your First Officer on the Durandal’s bridge, asking her to join you in your quarters as soon as the ships operations allowed.

The King responds first, the view screen blossoming into a picture of a pudgy, pale skinned man in rich robes of a shimmering, iridescent material; on his head he wore a rather gaudy band of ornately worked gold, set with a dozen sapphires the size of your thumbnail and twice as many diamonds.

His Majesty, King Darius Jerome Kantor Guillamn, Defender of Humanity and Sovereign of the Thousand Colonies was a blandly handsome man with a bulbous nose, deep blue eyes half hidden under thick, bushy eyebrows, a thin goatee and shoulder length black hair. His eyes don’t quite meet yours and his voice was stiff and formal, as it had been ever since he had first noticed your ‘condition’ “Admiral, what can we do for you?” Admiral, where it was once John and the royal We instead of I you notice angrily.

You snap off a perfect salute and, speaking in the same coolly and overly formal tone that he was using, you inform him of your decision “Your Majesty, at this time I wish to offer you my resignation both as Admiral of the Space Fleet and also of Captaincy of your flagship, the Durandal.”

His eyes widen is surprise, whatever he had been expecting from you, this was obviously not it “Resignation” he blurts out “What do you mean, you resign?”

“I have devoted many years to the Fleet, Sir and I have accomplished a great many things that I am proud of, but...” your hand rests momentarily on your stomach “...My circumstances have changed and I think that I will have duties and responsibilities in my life that will keep me from the deck of a warship for some time and I cannot, in good conscience ask others to serve under me in the Fleet if I am not willing to put my all into the Fleet as well.”

There is a soft chime from the door of your quarters and you press a button on the console in front of you, opening the door; your First Officer steps inside and snaps off a salute when she sees the face of the king on the view screen, for his part, the king barely seems to notice she is there.

You suck in a deep breath and continue “I have nothing but the utmost confidence in the abilities and skill of both Vice-Admiral Preston to replace me as head of the Fleet and also in Commander Belle here...” you gesture to the tall, voluptuous blonde woman that stood beside you t“...to serve as captain of any ship in the Fleet, including the Durandal. They are both damn fine officers Your Majesty; you have my word on it.”

He studies your face silently for a long minute; big, blue eyes searching your face for answers. “Very well” he finally pronounces “I will have the Chief Clerk draw up the resignation papers immediately and forward them to you” he turns to look at your First Officer, she stiffens proudly as he speaks “Commander Belle, If you have the confidence of the Admiral then you the confidence of your king, carry on the good work” the view screen goes black and he is gone.

“What the hell is going on here Sir?” Belle snaps at you, her amethyst eyes narrowing suspiciously “Your resigning? Since when?”

You pick your words carefully “This has been a long time coming, Lucille, I have been a Captain and an Admiral at war for a long time and I have seen enough blood spilled to fill an ocean” Your ebony dark eyes meet hers “I have faith in you, you are a damn good pilot and an even better captain”

She smiles at you proudly “Thank you sir, and I want you to know that it has been a great honour to serve with you” Giving you another picture perfect salute she turns and strides from your cabin, leaving you alone with your thoughts.